As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems can include subsystems that monitor the physical health characteristics of system components, such as temperature, voltage, fans, power supplies, and chassis intrusion. These types of subsystems can be referred to as operating condition monitors. One example operating condition monitor would be a temperature probe. Such monitoring subsystems can also monitor hardware-detected faults in the operation of system components. Some operating conditions can lead to permanent damage to components of an information handling system. If a hard drive becomes too hot, for example, the physical structure may be damaged such that further operation is impossible. In order to avoid such losses, operating condition monitors can be connected to systems that will automatically instigate measures to correct the operating condition problem. For example, an information handling system could stop providing power to a component that was overheating.
When a number of information handling systems are coupled together, a loss of functionality by one system can affect other systems. For example, if a personal computer is communicating with a mainframe through a switch to retrieve database information, a shut down of either of the two latter information handling systems, the switch and the mainframe, would affect the personal computer. Thus, if the operating condition monitored at one information handling system might lead to a shut down of that system, operation of another system could be impacted. Such an impact could include decreased functionality, a crashed application, a crashed operating system, or loss of valuable data.